I didn’t earn much but I’m writing to talk about the ways I earned money in 2024. I was thinking about it because my friend mentioned how last year she earned from four jobs she had.
For the last 18+ years, I’ve been working on websites with varying levels of success (income). It actually makes me sick when I think of it. For as long as I’ve been doing this, I should be way farther ahead in skills and income.
The blessings are I was able to work on them from home alongside raising kids. Some weeks I work 20 hours and others 40+ but it’s all on my own time.
I talked more about this in Day 31 but my primary website took a big hit from Google’s HCU update. My income dropped significantly.
In addition to working on my websites last year, I also earned some other new ways.
How I earned in 2024
I earned from several sources. A few of them were brand new to me:
- Poshmark reseller
- Amazon Influencer – Made $0
- TikTok Affiliate
Ads on websites
From my four websites that have ads on them, I earned $14,000. That’s not including expenses (audit for $2,000 plus hosting fees, etc.). This had been my primary revenue so I also added some side hustles as I was working on the websites.
I also started and then stopped writing on here. This is my fifth site but has no opportunities for ads at the moment. I keep meaning to link to products on Amazon from here and will in 2025.
Poshmark
I made my first Poshmark sale in the beginning of March 2024. At the end of the year, my Poshmark account had $1,617 in it. The only time I used my Poshmark earnings was to buy a dress — that I sold this year on Poshmark.
I only bought one thing on Poshmark because I needed to buy something and leave a review in order to become a Posh Ambassador. I only cared about that because there was a brief time in Oct/Nov 2024, when Poshmark changed their fees, that it would have helped me to be one.
So the $1,600 I made does not count the following:
- Cost of the items I bought: They ranged from $1 – $12.99
- Tissue paper
- Packing tape
- Thank you notes
I made money on everything I sold. My worst sale was making $1 on a $12.99 item. I think my next lowest was $4. My best was making around $150 on two dresses I sold together that cost me $15.
I lost money on a few things I bought that had flaws because I didn’t sell them.
I made some mistakes and am buying smarter now. Sometime I’ll look to see how much I’ve spent in total vs how much I sold.
It’s now April 1, 2025. In total, I’ve sold just over 100 items. If I had to guess, with all the stuff I have not sold, I’m still probably a bit ahead. So I didn’t “make” $1,600 but every time I sell something, I’m making it up.
I’m looking at this as a hobby. Sure, I’d love to make tons of money. But right now it’s a money-making hobby aka a small side hustle for me. I think it’s really fun.
Amazon links
I maybe made $25 from Amazon links in 2024. It was from links on my website. Pathetic but totally passive after I put in the links.
Amazon Influencer Program
I spent hundreds of hours trying to build up a TikTok profile from zero to become an Amazon Influencer. When I did, I submitted videos and was approved to have my product videos on-site on Amazon’s product pages.
I did around 25 product review videos. I don’t think I earned any money from this.
At the same time, I was approved to be a TikTok Affiliate. I switched gears an focused almost 100% on doing videos to sell TikTokShop products through links.
TikTok Affiliate
I was approved to be a TikTok Shop Affiliate in mid-November. Right when all the Christmas shopping was happening. I thought it was a more lucrative opportunity than focusing on the Amazon Influencer Program.
I don’t regret my choice to focus on TikTok but I didn’t do as well as I hoped. I don’t think I would have made more on Amazon. However, I wouldn’t have needed to use so many hours engaging like I did/do on TikTok.
For November on TikTok, I made $11.76. Pathetic! For December, I made $121.30. Better but for the hundreds of hours I spent (making videos and engaging) it was not worth it. I wish I didn’t go this route or the Amazon Influencer route.
Something sort of cools was all the TikTok free samples. I have received almost too many things. That’s fun for some people. I like it but also don’t want all this clutter coming into my home.
For people who are doing great on TikTok, that’s awesome. For me, I don’t like using all the time to engage with people. I’m not a social media person so it’s not fun for me.
Would have been better off with a job
I was hoping for some passive, recurring revenue. I got that with my websites but didn’t earn a lot. If I took a part time job earning $20, I would have been way ahead of where I am now.
Thoughts
Regarding Poshmark, I’m happy with the experience. I’m still doing it.
For Amazon Influencer, it’s okay. But Amazon doesn’t pay a lot in commissions. I knew this before going in so I wasn’t that excited about it. If I could get hundreds of videos up there, I think it would be an opportunity aka side hustle.
I’m still bogged down doing TikTok videos. I need to be winding this down. At one point I was doing 3 – 5 shop videos (with a product link) per day. I’m down to doing 1 – 2 a day. Many days I have zero sales.
It’s definitely time to pivot and go on to the next thing.